Passion, Wisdom, & Bonsai Trees

I have a book to finish, a cartographer to find…and an artist to entice for some commissioned pieces. But with all that on my plate, I took a moment to eat some Ramen noodles and surf the internet.

Then I came across this video. It made me think of everyone in my generation who seems to be up in the air with life. All of my friends are artists in some way, shape, or form. Writers. Painters. Crafters.

Many of them are also parents.

Even as a writer, I never quite had the words I needed, when talking about parenthood. I grew up around very, very different ideas of what parenthood should be, and it never quite made sense to me when I had my own kids. Why should kids be poked and prodded at in the direction their parents want? Why should they be taught a societal system where certain people are above others? Why can’t kids be taught to appreciate the moment, rather than what they need to strive to achieve for the future? They can learn both. So why should we choose what’s important for them? As if we know what the world will offer them in twenty years.

Twenty years ago, parents didn’t know that the internet would be a major way for millennials to make money. Instead, they pushed their kids to be doctors or lawyers, slowly suffocating the creative bug and imagination in us. Kids were raised to expect, rather than to appreciate. Then we grew up, and the world became a place where creativity is a staple in life. Books, movies, art, music…it runs our world. And instead of allowing ourselves to take risks in life to rediscover and recognize the creative talents we’ve always held, we’re trapped in an eight to five job, our minds fulls of expectations and the material things we think we need, while our hearts are crying for passion again. We adults…we all feel it, one way or another. We know what we suffer through, and yet, we’re doing the same thing to our kids that was done to us. We’re telling our kids to grow up faster. We’re telling 10 year olds to “let go of childish things.” We’re covering the eyes of our kids, telling them to look at the world and what it has to offer, then showing them a painting from twenty years ago. It doesn’t make sense.

Yes, we need doctors. And lawyers. And engineers. And teachers. But we need the kids who grow to want to become those, choose to become them. If your kid loves drawing, you encourage the heck out of that. They’re going to thrive and love themselves more. If they love to nurture, get them something to nurture. Can’t do animals? Do a garden. A Bonsai tree, for goodness sake. Push our kids to find their passion and to express it, along with wisdom of the world. It doesn’t have to be a one way road.

This video comes from Jason Momoa. Aquaman. Khal Drogo. If you don’t know him, Google him and you’ll recognize him. It really covers what so many kids are missing in today’s society. And it’s we, as the parents, teachers, and leaders of our world, that are failing them. We’re failing to highlight the goodness in the world, and to open our kids’ eyes to what is there to see and do. Not in the future, but in the now.